4 Times The Avengers Tried To Teach Jenni To Bake
by ramsaybaggins
Summary: And The 1 Time Thor Succeeded. Companion piece to A Letter To My Hero: /s/8307063/1/A Letter To My Hero . Jenni wants to learn to bake, and shenanigans ensue.
1. Tony

**Title:** 4 times the Avengers tried to teach Jenni to bake, and the 1 time Thor succeeded.  
**Characters/Pairing:** All Avengers  
**Rating:** PG  
**Word Count:** 2243  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Avengers, though I'd love a Tony!  
**Warnings:** None  
**Summary:** Companion piece to A Letter To My Hero. Jenni wants to learn how to bake, and the Avengers try to indulge that

* * *

**1. Tony**

"Uncle Iron," Jenni shouted as they danced around the sofa singing along to Disney movies.  
"Uh huh?" he replied, slightly more agitated than he should have been at being pulled out of his soulful rendition of 'I Won't Say I'm In Love (With Added Dance Moves)'.  
"I wanna make cookies," she told him, matter of factly.  
"Well, we have some cookies in the cupboard, they're pretty good," he replied with a shrug  
Jenni wrinkled her nose and shook her head at him. "Nuh uh, I wanna _make_ cookies!" She pouted.  
Tony sighed and looked at her, he couldn't resist those puppy eyes, not even after months of exposure. God help him when he has his _own _daughter. "Ok," he said, his eyes glinting, "Let's see what I've got lying around."

"Well," Tony sighed, hands on his hips, pink apron tied around his waist. He looked down at Jenni, "Honestly I don't really know what I'm doing."  
Jenni looked up at him, sticking her arms out. He lifted her onto the counter, where she peered over the bowl. The... cookie dough looked a little runny. She looked at Tony with a puzzled look on her face and he returned it.  
"I know," he said, picking up a bag of flour. "I'm gonna put some more of this in there, and then I think it'll be ready to eat." He dumped some flour in and Jenni stirred with the wooden spoon, her tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth with concentration. Once it was all mixed she looked at him with pride.  
"Now we needa make em cookies!" she said, beaming.  
Tony stared at her, a grin on his face and the mischievous glint in his eye, "Oh no, it's all ready. Haven't you ever eaten cookie dough?"  
Jenni shook her head, looking confused.  
"Oh child, you have missed out!"

Pepper walked into the room to find Tony slumped on the sofa with Jenni curled into him, them both quietly humming along to 'I'll Make A Man Out Of You' looking a little worse for wear. Then she spotted the, now empty, mixing bowl sitting on the table in front of them, two wooden spoons resting inside.  
"Have a good time?" she asked as she walked over to sit beside Tony.  
"Yes we d - _oh god don't put any pressure on my stomach_," he groaned as she removed the arm she'd tried to wind around his waist.  
Jenni looked at her, regret in her eyes, "Uncle Iron showed me how to eat cookie dough," she said in a slightly strained voice, "it was so yummy."  
"We probably should have left some for making actual cookies though," Tony replied.  
Jenni nodded wisely. Pepper smiled and snuggled further into Tony who pulled her in at the shoulders. She looked at Jenni, up at Tony and then to the television. She smiled as she thought that one day Tony and Pepper would have their own child. That would be nice


	2. Bruce

**2. Bruce**

The other Avengers were all off doing important things. Bruce hadn't really enquired further than SHIELD stuff, he had his own research to get on with so it didn't trouble him. It did, however, mean that he was left babysitting Jenni Thordaughter. He got along her mostly, so he didn't mind. He just thought she'd probably be having a better time doing something else. So, when she eventually got bored of drawing and watching him manipulate models, he wasn't very surprised.  
"Unky Green?" she enquired.  
"Hmm," he said, as he looked up from his research.  
"I want cookie dough. Uncle Iron made some and it was yummy. Do you wanna make cookie dough?" she said, her trademark grin wide across her face.  
"Does Daddy say you're allowed cookie dough?" he asked cautiously.  
Jenni sat back, obviously thinking. After a moment she replied with, "He didn't say I wasn't allowed cookie dough!" She looked thoroughly pleased with herself. She'd been spending too much time with Tony, Bruce thought.

Jenni helped Bruce collect all of the ingredients they'd need from around the kitchen, and he lined them all up. He explained to her, as she sat on the counter swinging her legs, of the importance of following the instructions in the baking book and making sure they weigh everything as accurately as possible because baking, at it's most basic, was science. He wasn't surprised when she climbed off the counter and disappeared for a few minutes, returning with her felt pens and her pad of paper. She sat at the table and began drawing, happily humming to herself. Bruce sighed to himself, with all the other Avengers around her of course he was boring. He was just the quiet scientist, he couldn't fly and he didn't have any other cool superhero stuff. He continued to speak to no one in particular as he followed the instructions to the letter and put them in the oven.

Later, when the team had returned from their meeting, or whatever it was, they all gathered in the kitchen. They sat around the table, talking about what had happened throughout the day when Bruce brought the cooled cookies over for them to share. Jenni sat on Thor's lap as she continued to draw.  
"Ahh, thank you friend Banner," Thor said as he acquired both himself and Jenni a cookie.  
"Nice cookies Bruce," said Tony as he bit into one. "I prefer the dough though," he said as he caught Jenni's eye with a smile. She giggled.  
"What made you decide on cookies?" Natasha asked.  
Bruce shrugged, "Jenni decided she wanted some so I – we made some," he said, not wanting to reveal how he'd managed to bore such a curious little girl.  
To his surprise Jenni lit up at that moment, "Yeah! Unky Green told me all about science! Did you know baking was science?" she said up to her adoptive father.  
Thor looked down at her, "Indeed?" he said, feigning surprise at the revelation.  
"Uh huh," she nodded, "you gotta make all the ingredients go in a bowl together, but it's gotta be the right ones, and you gotta make them all the right amount, and then science gives you a cookie!"  
Bruce looked at her with a little shock on his face, he didn't realise she'd even been paying attention.  
Thor looked down at his daughter's drawing pad. He pointed at some of the drawings, "And what's this?"  
"Unky Green was looking at things in the big lab, so I drew them because they must be important," she smiled in return.  
Bruce got up to look at them. There were drawings of the models he'd been working on, and even a stick man with black curly hair with a big smile, and a little stick girl holding his hand. Bruce tried to withhold a sob. Jenni turned to him, a big smile across her face, creasing her eyes, and flung her arms around his waist.  
"I love you Unky Green, you're really cool."


	3. Clint & Natasha

**3. Clint and Natasha**

Clint enjoyed Jenni's company, for a six year old she had a really badass streak. She always wanted to know new things about his bow, or how his arrows worked, or how he got into the vents to get around the tower. In fact, she'd figured out the vent thing by herself. Definitely one smart kid. As soon as Pepper thought she was old enough he was going to put a bow in her hand. Today though she didn't seem to be so into the bow and the guns, instead she just wasn't settling.  
"What's up?" he asked her.  
"I'm boooored," she replied.  
"But you've never been bored watching me shoot before..." Clint didn't know whether to feel hurt or not.  
"But I wanna make a cake," she replied. That floored him a little. He'd heard of her baking escapades with Bruce and Tony, but apparently she was becoming pretty attached to the idea of becoming queen of the cookies.  
"We can make cake if you want," he replied, nonchalantly.  
"Really?!" she said, her eyes lighting up.  
"Of course, I'm the cool uncle, remember?"

Natasha flung open the door of the kitchen after JARVIS had made her aware of a 'situation' involving Jenni and Clint. She was both relieved and irritated all in one moment as she found two very flour covered figures giggling and using the table for cover. She took in the entire scene for a moment before clearing her throat. She saw both of the figures freeze, dread coming across their faces as they slowly turned towards her.  
"Uh, hi Natasha," Clint said, trying his best innocent grin.  
Jenni just flung out her arm in the direction of Clint, an accusatory figure pointing to his face.  
Natasha couldn't help but smile as Clint scowled at Jenni who responded with sticking her tongue out. She walked around them and winked at Jenni, the two combatants deciding that of course meant they had permission to recommence their battle. She picked up the mixing bowl and took over where they had left off.  
"I'm sure Tony can find someone to clean this mess up once we're done," she smirked.

Later that evening Clint and Natasha hid with a still-white-looking Jenni in the air vents as Tony searched the tower for them.


	4. Steve

**4. Steve**

Steve and Jenni sat at the table in the study, paper, pens and pencils spread across the entire surface. The spent time in companionable silence, with Steve occasionally leaning over to see what Jenni was drawing, and giving her pointers on how she could improve. Definitely got some talent for a six year old. He noticed over the course of the last half hour cake and cookies had made a more and more frequent venture into her drawings. She six-year-old-subtly kept nudging them in his direction and looking over at him when she thought he wasn't looking. Eventually he had had enough.  
"Trying to hint something?" he said.  
Jenni put on her best innocent face, "I dunno what you mean."  
"I'm thinking you wanna bake some cookies," he replied, "Am I right?"  
Jenni looked at him, "Ohhhh can we can we can we _can we_?!"  
Steve chuckled, "We can try."

Steve had never really baked before, and it wasn't going well. The mixture just never looked right, regardless of what they did. They tried following the instructions, but Steve decided he just wasn't very good at this baking thing. They tried baking 'by democracy' where they each tried to figure out what was wrong and fix it, but nothing really seemed to work. When they heard the rest of the Avengers coming to check out what was going on they decided they'd done what they could and put the cookies in the oven to bake.

The others were drawn to the kitchen by the smell, but when the cookies were revealed, it was somewhat of a disappointment. The edges were blackened and burnt, the middles hadn't really cooked properly and they generally didn't look very appetising. The others picked at them for a bit, before deciding against eating them. As Steve threw them in the bin he turned to Jenni.  
"Let's take me off cookie duty, I think."  
Jenni nodded.


	5. Thor

**+1. Thor**

The Avengers walked into the kitchen to find a veritable bakery laid out on the table. There were cookies, breads, cakes, cupcakes, the works. Their jaws hit the floor. They then caught sight of Thor in the pink apron, with Jenni helping to stir something in the mixing bowl.  
"Holy hell, you've been busy," said Tony, his voice caught somewhere between shock and awe.  
Thor turned around, "Ahh, friends! Today Jenni and I have been preparing a baked feast!"  
"I didn't know you could cook, Thor," Steve replied.  
"I have been teaching Jenni that a true leader can provide sustenance to his warriors in thanks for their service, and it is a great honour to be able to create many forms of delicious baked goods."  
The others liked the sound of that.

That night Jenni and Thor kept them interested as they ate themselves to the fill with stories of their day. Thor regaled the story of how he learnt to provide a feast for a great host, and how at first he had been reluctant, thinking it was the job of servants, before realising that it was a great gift to those who had risked their lives for him. It was his duty as a father to pass that knowledge onto Jenni so she too could understand the importance not only of being able to provide for oneself, but also to be able to share gifts with those that are part of your life. Although it had taken Jenni many failed attempts, her new father had succeeded where the others had failed and Jenni had learnt how to bake. She was very proud of herself, interjecting when she could to make sure everyone was enjoying the food. She received many enthusiastic replies. Thor smiled and put his arm around his daughter's shoulders. They were definitely a family.


End file.
